The General Directorate for Internal Security (French: Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure, DGSI) is a French security agency. It is charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations, and social phenomena.
The DGSI is headed by General Director Nicolas Lerner.[2] The agency is informally known as the "RG", a nickname formerly used for the Direction centrale des renseignements généraux which merged into it.
The DGSI performs among the others the following tasks: prevents and halts any action or interference from foreign entities; fights acts of terrorism or acts that threaten the security and sustainability of the state or undermine the integrity of the territory; participates in the surveillance of radicalised individuals and groups who may turn to violence and threaten national security; fights against international criminal organisations that may have an impact on national security. As Aleksander Olech, the DGSI is the only secret service in the French Republic to cooperate directly with judicial institutions (l’institution judiciaire).[3]
Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI)Edit
The fusion of the RG and the DST into the Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI) was a wish held by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was France's Minister of the Interior.[citation needed] The change was officially launched by the Council of Ministers on 20 June 2007, shortly after the election of Sarkozy as President. Minister of the Interior Michèle Alliot-Marie,[4] however, was reputedly reluctant regarding this fusion and ordered the General Director of the Police Nationale, Frédéric Péchenard, to undertake a study of the proposal.[5]
The creation of DCRI was announced on 13 September 2007 by Alliot-Marie. The founding texts of the DCRI were adopted 7 April 2008, to become effective 1 July 2008.[citation needed]
A fraction of the former functionaries of the Renseignement général (General Intelligence, RG) were brought in from the Sub-Direction of General Information (SDIG) from the Central Direction of Public Security, represented in the departments of metropolitan France and in its overseas territories by the departmental services of General Information, in the care of the departmental directorates of Public Security.[6]
Bernard Squarcini, director of DST, was named head of the DCRI in 2008.[7] He was assisted from the outset by two central adjunct directors, René Bailly, former functionary of the RG, and Patrick Calvar, former functionary of the DST. René Bailly then left the DCRI in the month of June 2009 to take leadership of the new direction of intelligence of the Paris police (DRPP),[citation needed] Patrick Calvar named director of intelligence of external security(DGSE) is replaced in his post at the beginning of 2010 by Frédéric Veaux, until then sub-director of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police.[citation needed]
One of the first media appearances of the new DCRI was the arrest of Julien Coupat in the context of the "Tarnac Affair".
In December 2008, the leadership of the DCRI made priority of surveilling an impending plot orchestrated by an Islamist in the region of Paris.[citation needed]
By a decree of 31 May 2012, Patrick Calvar, former adjunct operational director of the DCRI and director of intelligence at the DGSE since 2009, was named central director of interior intelligence, replacing Squarcini.[8][9][10]
Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure (DGSI)Edit
Along with the change in majority politics in spring 2012, the executive and legislative powers sought to re-assess the role of the DCRI. In May 2013, a parliamentary report on the intelligence services was presented by the deputy PS Jean-Jacques Urvoas and his colleague UMP Patrice Verchère.[11] The report was critical of the DCRI's functioning and particularly the treatment of the Toulouse and Montauban shootings. On 17 June 2012 the Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls announced a reform pertinent to French domestic intelligence. This reform was officialised by the decree no. 2014-445 from 30 April 2014, which started vigorously on 12 May 2014. The DCRI became the Direction générale de la Sécurité intérieure (DGSI), is no longer situated under the authority of the General Director of the Police Nationale but under that of the Minister of the Interior, with more authority. The DGSI preserved the connections of its operatives, who required contractors (engineers, programmers, linguists)[12][13][14] Patrick Calvar is set to continue his function.[15]
ControversyEdit
In April 2013, the French Wikipedia article on the military radio station of Pierre-sur-Haute attracted attention after the DCRI attempted to have the article removed from the French Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation asked the intelligence agency what precise parts of the article were a problem in the eyes of the intelligence agency. The DCRI refused to give these details, and repeated its demand for total deletion of the article.
The Wikimedia Foundation refused to delete the article, and the DCRI pressured an administrator, threatening detention and prosecution,[16][17][18] of the French language Wikipedia and resident of France, into removing the article.[19]
According to a statement by the Wikimedia Foundation,
The DCRI summoned a Wikipedia volunteer in their offices on April 4th [2013]. This volunteer, which was one of those having access to the tools that allow the deletion of pages, was forced to delete the article while in the DCRI offices, on the understanding that he would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not comply. Under pressure, he had no other choice than to delete the article, despite explaining to the DCRI this is not how Wikipedia works. He warned the other sysops that trying to undelete the article would engage their responsibility before the law. This volunteer had no link with that article, having never edited it and not even knowing of its existence before entering the DCRI offices. He was chosen and summoned because he was easily identifiable, given his regular promotional actions of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in France.
Later, the article was restored by other Wikipedia contributors.[20][21][22][23] The French Ministry of the Interior told Agence France-Presse that for the moment it did not wish to comment on the incident.[24]
^ministère français de l'intérieur, ed. (13 September 2007). "Discours de la ministre française de l'intérieur du 17 septembre 2007". Retrieved 10 April 2013.
^Polloni, Camille (27 July 2012). "Grosse déprime des ex-RG, "pestiférés" du renseignement français". Rue89. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
^"Décret du 2 juillet 2008 portant nomination d'un directeur des services actifs de la police nationale - M. Squarcini (Bernard)".
^L'Express, ed. (30 May 2012). "Patrick Calvar, un homme de renseignement à la tête de la DCRI". Retrieved 30 May 2012.
^"Décret du 31 mai 2012 portant cessation de fonctions du directeur central du renseignement intérieur et portant nomination d'un préfet hors cadre - M. Squarcini (Bernard)".
^"Décret du 31 mai 2012 portant nomination du directeur central du renseignement intérieur - M. Calvar (Patrick)".
^"Évaluation du cadre juridique applicable aux services de renseignement". Assemblée nationale.
^"Décret 2014-445 from April 30 relative to the missions and to the organisation of the DGSI".
^AFP et Le Figaro, ed. (17 June 2013). "Valls réorganise le renseignement".
^Laurent Borredon (17 June 2013). Le Monde (ed.). "Réforme du renseignement : Manuel Valls choisit la continuité". Le Monde.fr.
^"Décret du 7 mai 2014 portant nomination du directeur général de la Sécurité intérieure - M. CALVAR (Patrick)".
^"Journal des modifications de droits d'utilisateurs". French Wikipedia (in French). Wikimedia Foundation. October 18, 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^Kleinz, Torsten (April 6, 2013). "Französischer Geheimdienst verlangt Löschung eines Wikipedia-Artikels". Heise Online (in German). Heise. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^"French homeland intelligence threatens a volunteer sysop to delete a Wikipedia Article". Wikimédia France. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^"La DCRI accusée d'avoir illégalement forcé la suppression d'un article de Wikipédia" Le Monde, 6 April 2013 (in French)
^"French Intelligence Agency Forces Removal of Wikipedia Entry". Slashdot. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^"La DCRI menace un administrateur de Wikipédia pour supprimer un article" (in French). Wikimédia France. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
^"La DCRI accusée d'avoir fait supprimer un article sur Wikipedia" (in French). Agence France-Presse. 6 April 2013.
^Emmanuel Jarry; Yves Clarisse. . Reuters (in French). Service France. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017. Cette enquête a été confiée à la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et à la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI), a-t-on annoncé de même source.
^"France mulls security measures after attack near Notre Dame Cathedral". Newsweek. AP. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
^Emmanuel Jarry; Yves Clarisse. . Reuters (in French). Service France. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017. Cette enquête a été confiée à la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et à la Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure (DGSI), a-t-on annoncé de même source.
External linksEdit
Official website (french)
on the website of the French Ministry of the Interior.
News coverage on Intelligence Online
October 25, 2023
general, directorate, internal, security, dcri, redirects, here, another, duke, clinical, research, institute, french, direction, générale, sécurité, intérieure, dgsi, french, security, agency, charged, with, counter, espionage, counter, terrorism, countering,. DCRI redirects here For another use see Duke Clinical Research Institute The General Directorate for Internal Security French Direction generale de la Securite interieure DGSI is a French security agency It is charged with counter espionage counter terrorism countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups organisations and social phenomena General Directorate for Internal SecurityDirection generale de la Securite interieureAgency overviewFormed12 May 2014 2014 05 12 JurisdictionFrench Ministry of the InteriorHeadquarters84 Rue de Villiers Levallois Perret FranceEmployees gt 3 300Annual budget 300 millionMinister responsibleGerald DarmaninAgency executiveNicolas LernerWebsiteinterieur wbr gouv wbr frThe agency was created in 2008 under the name Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence French Direction centrale du renseignement interieur DCRI merging the direction centrale des Renseignements generaux RG and the direction de la surveillance du territoire DST of the French National Police It acquired its current name in 2014 with a small structural shift contrary to the DCRI which was part of the National Police the DGSI reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior 1 The DGSI is headed by General Director Nicolas Lerner 2 The agency is informally known as the RG a nickname formerly used for the Direction centrale des renseignements generaux which merged into it The DGSI performs among the others the following tasks prevents and halts any action or interference from foreign entities fights acts of terrorism or acts that threaten the security and sustainability of the state or undermine the integrity of the territory participates in the surveillance of radicalised individuals and groups who may turn to violence and threaten national security fights against international criminal organisations that may have an impact on national security As Aleksander Olech the DGSI is the only secret service in the French Republic to cooperate directly with judicial institutions l institution judiciaire 3 Contents 1 History 1 1 Direction centrale du renseignement interieur DCRI 1 2 Direction generale de la Securite interieure DGSI 2 Controversy 3 Investigations 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditDirection centrale du renseignement interieur DCRI Edit The fusion of the RG and the DST into the Direction centrale du renseignement interieur DCRI was a wish held by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was France s Minister of the Interior citation needed The change was officially launched by the Council of Ministers on 20 June 2007 shortly after the election of Sarkozy as President Minister of the Interior Michele Alliot Marie 4 however was reputedly reluctant regarding this fusion and ordered the General Director of the Police Nationale Frederic Pechenard to undertake a study of the proposal 5 The creation of DCRI was announced on 13 September 2007 by Alliot Marie The founding texts of the DCRI were adopted 7 April 2008 to become effective 1 July 2008 citation needed A fraction of the former functionaries of the Renseignement general General Intelligence RG were brought in from the Sub Direction of General Information SDIG from the Central Direction of Public Security represented in the departments of metropolitan France and in its overseas territories by the departmental services of General Information in the care of the departmental directorates of Public Security 6 Bernard Squarcini director of DST was named head of the DCRI in 2008 7 He was assisted from the outset by two central adjunct directors Rene Bailly former functionary of the RG and Patrick Calvar former functionary of the DST Rene Bailly then left the DCRI in the month of June 2009 to take leadership of the new direction of intelligence of the Paris police DRPP citation needed Patrick Calvar named director of intelligence of external security DGSE is replaced in his post at the beginning of 2010 by Frederic Veaux until then sub director of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police citation needed One of the first media appearances of the new DCRI was the arrest of Julien Coupat in the context of the Tarnac Affair In December 2008 the leadership of the DCRI made priority of surveilling an impending plot orchestrated by an Islamist in the region of Paris citation needed By a decree of 31 May 2012 Patrick Calvar former adjunct operational director of the DCRI and director of intelligence at the DGSE since 2009 was named central director of interior intelligence replacing Squarcini 8 9 10 Direction generale de la Securite interieure DGSI Edit Along with the change in majority politics in spring 2012 the executive and legislative powers sought to re assess the role of the DCRI In May 2013 a parliamentary report on the intelligence services was presented by the deputy PS Jean Jacques Urvoas and his colleague UMP Patrice Verchere 11 The report was critical of the DCRI s functioning and particularly the treatment of the Toulouse and Montauban shootings On 17 June 2012 the Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls announced a reform pertinent to French domestic intelligence This reform was officialised by the decree no 2014 445 from 30 April 2014 which started vigorously on 12 May 2014 The DCRI became the Direction generale de la Securite interieure DGSI is no longer situated under the authority of the General Director of the Police Nationale but under that of the Minister of the Interior with more authority The DGSI preserved the connections of its operatives who required contractors engineers programmers linguists 12 13 14 Patrick Calvar is set to continue his function 15 Controversy EditIn April 2013 the French Wikipedia article on the military radio station of Pierre sur Haute attracted attention after the DCRI attempted to have the article removed from the French Wikipedia The Wikimedia Foundation asked the intelligence agency what precise parts of the article were a problem in the eyes of the intelligence agency The DCRI refused to give these details and repeated its demand for total deletion of the article The Wikimedia Foundation refused to delete the article and the DCRI pressured an administrator threatening detention and prosecution 16 17 18 of the French language Wikipedia and resident of France into removing the article 19 According to a statement by the Wikimedia Foundation The DCRI summoned a Wikipedia volunteer in their offices on April 4th 2013 This volunteer which was one of those having access to the tools that allow the deletion of pages was forced to delete the article while in the DCRI offices on the understanding that he would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not comply Under pressure he had no other choice than to delete the article despite explaining to the DCRI this is not how Wikipedia works He warned the other sysops that trying to undelete the article would engage their responsibility before the law This volunteer had no link with that article having never edited it and not even knowing of its existence before entering the DCRI offices He was chosen and summoned because he was easily identifiable given his regular promotional actions of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in France Later the article was restored by other Wikipedia contributors 20 21 22 23 The French Ministry of the Interior told Agence France Presse that for the moment it did not wish to comment on the incident 24 Investigations EditThe DGSI was tasked with co leading the terror investigation into the 2017 Notre Dame attack together with the National Centre for Counter Terrorism 25 26 27 See also Edit nbsp France portalNational Centre for Counter Terrorism Internal security Homeland securityReferences Edit Reforme du renseignement Manuel Valls choisit la continuite Le Monde 17 June 2013 Director Nicolas Lerner Ministere de l interieur et des outre mer 1 February 2022 Retrieved 13 March 2023 Aleksander Olech French and Polish fight against terrorism Poznan 2022 p 67 69 https www researchgate net publication 359135918 French and Polish fight against terrorism ministere francais de l interieur ed 13 September 2007 Discours de la ministre francaise de l interieur du 17 septembre 2007 Retrieved 10 April 2013 1 NouvelObs 23 aout 2007 Polloni Camille 27 July 2012 Grosse deprime des ex RG pestiferes du renseignement francais Rue89 Archived from the original on June 30 2013 Retrieved 1 September 2012 Decret du 2 juillet 2008 portant nomination d un directeur des services actifs de la police nationale M Squarcini Bernard L Express ed 30 May 2012 Patrick Calvar un homme de renseignement a la tete de la DCRI Retrieved 30 May 2012 Decret du 31 mai 2012 portant cessation de fonctions du directeur central du renseignement interieur et portant nomination d un prefet hors cadre M Squarcini Bernard Decret du 31 mai 2012 portant nomination du directeur central du renseignement interieur M Calvar Patrick Evaluation du cadre juridique applicable aux services de renseignement Assemblee nationale Decret 2014 445 from April 30 relative to the missions and to the organisation of the DGSI AFP et Le Figaro ed 17 June 2013 Valls reorganise le renseignement Laurent Borredon 17 June 2013 Le Monde ed Reforme du renseignement Manuel Valls choisit la continuite Le Monde fr Decret du 7 mai 2014 portant nomination du directeur general de la Securite interieure M CALVAR Patrick Wikipedia Administrators English Wikipedia Wikimedia Foundation April 5 2013 Retrieved 5 April 2013 Wikipedia Administrateur French Wikipedia in French Wikimedia Foundation March 28 2013 Retrieved 5 April 2013 Journal des modifications de droits d utilisateurs French Wikipedia in French Wikimedia Foundation October 18 2007 Retrieved 5 April 2013 Kleinz Torsten April 6 2013 Franzosischer Geheimdienst verlangt Loschung eines Wikipedia Artikels Heise Online in German Heise Retrieved 5 April 2013 French homeland intelligence threatens a volunteer sysop to delete a Wikipedia Article Wikimedia France Retrieved 6 April 2013 La DCRI accusee d avoir illegalement force la suppression d un article de Wikipedia Le Monde 6 April 2013 in French French Intelligence Agency Forces Removal of Wikipedia Entry Slashdot 6 April 2013 Retrieved 6 April 2013 La DCRI menace un administrateur de Wikipedia pour supprimer un article in French Wikimedia France Retrieved 6 April 2013 La DCRI accusee d avoir fait supprimer un article sur Wikipedia in French Agence France Presse 6 April 2013 Emmanuel Jarry Yves Clarisse Enquete antiterroriste sur l agression de policiers a Paris Reuters in French Service France Archived from the original on 6 June 2017 Retrieved 10 September 2017 Cette enquete a ete confiee a la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et a la Direction generale de la securite interieure DGSI a t on annonce de meme source France mulls security measures after attack near Notre Dame Cathedral Newsweek AP 6 June 2017 Retrieved 10 September 2017 Emmanuel Jarry Yves Clarisse Enquete antiterroriste sur l agression de policiers a Paris Reuters in French Service France Archived from the original on 6 June 2017 Retrieved 9 June 2017 Cette enquete a ete confiee a la section antiterroriste de la Brigade criminelle et a la Direction generale de la securite interieure DGSI a t on annonce de meme source External links EditOfficial website french Official announcement of the agency s launch on the website of the French Ministry of the Interior News coverage on Intelligence Online Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title General Directorate for Internal Security amp oldid 1174465473, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
